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Malay kingdoms
The Malay kingdoms have the Power of Prestige Game Info National bonuses Starting government: Liberalism *The map begins with revealed and you start with an extra Scout (In "Revealed Map" games, you gain a bonus scout). Scout line is upgraded for free and uses abilities faster. *Until Industrial Age, receive a free Heavy Ship whenever you complete a Dock. *Gain 30 resources from Ruins, and +26 per Science level. Unique units *War canoes and outriggers *Xebec 1-2 *Bajau horse 1 => Bajau cavalier 2 => Rejimen Bajau 3 (light cavalry line; adept at surviving marine crossings but has less armour and hitpoints) *Javelins 1 => Heavy javelins 2 *Bugis matchlock 1 => Bugis musket infantry 2 *Nusantara swordsman 1 & 2 (heavy infantry armed with a sword, with high attack. Adept at surviving marine crossings, but has less armour and hitpoints) => Rejimen Melayu 3 => Royal Malay Regiment 4 (weaker grenadier infantry unit which is more resistent to attrition than other light infantry) *War Elephant 1 => Musketoon mahout => Gajnal mahout 3 => Elephant mortar 4 replaces the cavalry archer/rifle. These units are slow-moving but highly effective against melee units Auxiliaries Unique buildings *Mansion - trains elite units, such as the elite heavy infantry line, Bajau cavalry and war elephants. *Masjid - performs taxation and religion research, and is the main stopping point for your auxiliary units. *Mansabdar (requires Construction; available from 2) **Spawns 1 war elephant. **Cavalry have no ramp cost. **Has a +5 food bonus (once 1st Green researched)) **Reduces the knowledge costs of civics research and the research time for commerce research. Spoiler Of all factions, the Malay kingdoms represent one of the hardest to master and most highly specialised of all factions — they are skilled at naval warfare, but nothing else. Among all factions, the Malays are one of the two factions capable of amphibious warfare. The Malay army is typified by its xebec line, as well as its Bugis skirmishers, Bajau light cavalry and its melee infantry line, which in successive eras becomes the modern Rejimen Melayu. These land units like the Dutch are less vulnerable when moving through water, and also have a higher attack bonus than normal, albeit it is to be noted that they all have no armour, but are fairly cheap. The Malay navy is fairly mediocre as many jungle nations, and specialises in mobility over firepower, with one exception - the Xebec. Xebecs replace the frigates and outriggers for most Muslim factions, and also bring more meat on the table - they have the same population cost as an outrigger, but are best described as a mating between a brig and a war galley - it shares the brig's firepower, but all else told it has higher movement speed, and diminished, strength, armour, and range, with a different price tag as well. The xebec is thus the undisputed king of the seas in the early game, being cheap enough, yet being endowed with sufficient firepower. A fleet of xebecs can be created fairly quickly and cheaply, granting naval mastery in no time although easily outranged by heavier warships. So for the Malay faction, sea power is key to remain a going concern. The Malay faction is unique in that it marries both tribal ships with western-style tactics. An added bonus is that docks will spawn war canoes so long as that kind of craft remains buildable - which for the most part remains so until the Industrial Era when western-style ironclad warships begin coming into vogue. Apart from its unique units, the Malay faction also has better explorers which elicit more resources from ruins, and are also more efficient at their abilities, but beyond that, it still remains weak. The fate of the Malays thus rests on the gallant crews of its war canoes and its xebecs - take those away, and it will be down to the not-so mobile infantry and elephants and cheap cavalry. CtW East Indies Campaign In the East Indies campaign, you are thrust into the role of guiding the Acehnese sultanate in the early 17th century. Already, the Malay states are in disunity, Melaka has been taken over by Portugal, and the Dutch have landed in Jawa. Tasked with taking over 2 continents, you should hedge your bets on the Malay Archipelago first. The Portuguese and the Dutch are not the only threats there to your independence; Siam seeks to control the entire Malay peninsula, while its neighbour Burma is highly belligerent. On the other hand, Burma can prove to be a useful ally in the region, being able not just to keep the Siamese in check, but the Chinese and the Mughals as well too. Upgrading your national territorial strength later is of little interest until the late game. Once this issue is resolved there are three logical choices left to follow, but only two are of interest: the Middle East, although distant, is the home of your ally the Ottomans, who are slowly expanding towards the Indian Ocean; and their enemy, Persia. Playing off both sides could see you become the next caliph. On the other hand, there too is India, being squabbled over by the likes of the Persians, the Mughals, and several smaller European powers. North Asia also seems a logical choice, except for two problems: it is the home of China, the largest power in the world, and Japan, which while smaller is strong while it remains aloof from the rest of the world - they will have to be left alone, until national territorial strength is considered. Once your second continent is consolidated, a few border wars against your opponents should settle the question of who will win the campaign. History Although historically significant in early modern history but nonetheless oft ignoreded, the Malay Archipelago nonetheless cannot and should not be ignored by the student of history. Dazzling mineral wealth and an abundance of ecological biodiversity, as well as a pivotal role in Asian maritime trade have meant that this part of the world, consisting of over 25,000 islands in an area spanning 2 million kilonetres in area, has often tipped the scales of history - and often ominously so for those who call this part of the planet home. Early beginnings As a host of the strategically important Straits of Melaka, the Malay archipelago has always been a significant waterway and economic highway between China and India, and has spawned a number of political entities which made their living from maritime trade. Different sources in China and India attest the existence of civilisation throughout the Malayan Archipelago from the 1st century AD, with metal artifacts discovered throughout Southeast Asia postulating the adoption of metallurgy by the locals as early as 2000 BC. From this period until the modern era, the Malay Archipelago and neighbouring Indochina would have their fates interwoven together. The most powerful, pre-Islamic nation ever founded by the Malay race was the Srivijayan empire. A massive empire spanning the whole of the Straits of Melaka and outlying islands, Srivijaya held sway from its base in Palembang, southern Sumatera, for more than five hundred years. Fuelled with profits from trade and rich with gold, Srivijaya spread its influence as far as Indochina before it was supplanted by two other nations: Singhasari, and the even larger Majapahit empire. These two nations, whose kings were related to one another by descent, would be one of the few nations to have successfully stood up against the Mongols in China. The last Singhasari king, Raden Wijaya, deceived the Mongols into helping him oust a rival, before eventually driving them back to the sea and claiming his place as the first king of Majapahit in 1293, centred around Jawa, but civil war and court intrigues would cause the kingdom to disintegrate fully by the 16th century. The Islamic era Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, Islam began to take hold in the Malayan Archipelago, and by the 16th century most Malays were of the Muslim faith, although in some isolated areas animists and Hindhus continued to hold sway, as in Bali today, with lasting results that would determine the Malay Archipelago's fate to this very day. It was the Melaka sultanate that would become the region's greatest Islamic empire. Centred around Melaka state in present-day Malaysia, Melaka would first come into prominence in the 15th century AD, and would begin to consolidate its control well over a hundred years over the entire Malay Peninsula in mainland Asia, as well as several parts of Sumatera and outlying islands. Other serious contenders in the region also were Demak (off the northern coast of Jawa); Brunei (centred around Borneo and Mindanao); Aceh (in northern Sumatera); and the ailing Majapahit empire. Of all these sultanates, the name of Melaka must be writ large, and for several reasons. As lord of the Straits of Melaka, it commanded the increasingly significant Euro-Asian trade routes between China, Western Asia, and distant Europe and the Middle East. The sultans were wise enough to realise the importance of trade, and Melaka was thus renowned for its sophisticated code of laws meant to encourage trade as much as to control it, attracting traders from lands as far away as Ryukyu near to Japan. Equally, Melaka was known for the spread of Islam throughout the Malay archipelago, whether through assimilation through conquest, or by diplomatic means via marriage. Although gold used to be the most valuable export of these lands, there now was a new commodity that was making itself ever more valuable - spices. Unfortunately for Europe, the overland routes for this commodity were now under the control of a single empire - the Ottoman sultanate - and due to religious issues, the Europeans were reluctant to trade with the Ottomans (although some nations such as Venice continued to do so). It was one of these reasons, and also the relative poverty of their nation, which caused Portuguese explorers to search for new routes to the Orient, which would eventually culminate in the Age of European Exploration. The Portuguese Period and the Fall of Melaka In an attempt to compete against the Islamic world, Portugal sent out under various military expeditions to North Africa and beyond, but these soon became expeditions intent on creating wealth via trade or conquest instead. Once the African coast mapped out, Portugal's next target was Asia. The Battle of Diu, pitting the all-new Portuguese carrack against Venetian-built galleys off the Indian coast, opened the waters of Southeast Asia to the Portuguese. Almost simultaneously, Brunei came under attack by the Spanish, from America, but managed to maintain its independence, albeit shorn of its vassal-state the Suluk sultanate in Mindanao. An expedition was sent to Melaka in 1511 under Afonso de Albuquerque to establish a trade factory at Melaka. Intially at first relations between the Portuguese and Melaka were cordial, but once word reached the sultan of Portuguese atrocities committed against Muslims in India, relations began to sour and the Portuguese soon found their demands being rejected. It was then that the Portuguese decided to use force, echoing the same by the British against the Chinese in 1842 and the Americans against the Japanese in 1853. Although Melaka was stoutly defended with artillery and war elephants, its ruler, Mahmud Shah, was not a popular man and so by August, the Portuguese were now lords of Melaka. However, much to the chargrin of the Portuguese, the abuses they committed against the "heathen" peoples of Asia resulted not only in the loss of trade with Melaka, but poorer relations with other nations such as China and Japan too. In the wake of the 1511 expedition, other nations began to fill in the gap left by Melaka, most notably Aceh, as well as Johor, which was ruled by relatives of the deposed Mahmud Shah. To make matters worse for both Portuguese and Malay alike, a new invader appeared on the horizon: the Dutch, who became more successful and with the British would eventually become the masters of the Malay Archipelago. Meanwhile, with the Malays there arose a new regional power: Aceh. With the fall of its major rival Melaka in 1511, the scene was now set for Aceh to seize power. By 1520, all of northern Sumatera was under Acehnese rule, and was poised to take over the role formerly played by Melaka. Aceh had one advantage that Melaka never had - it had a more well-placed ally, this being Ottoman Turkey, which supplied Aceh with gunpowder, weapons and ships. Aceh was so powerful that by 1607, it incorporated northern Sumatera as well as the northern half of the present-day Malayan Peninsula as far as Pahang, its influence stretching from the Indian Ocean all the way to the South China Sea. Although after 1607 local politics would weaken the state, Aceh managed to hold out against European rule for well over two more centuries. The Napoleonic Wars and European Rule Throughout the 17th to the 19th centuries, European rule in the Malay Archipelago generally followed a single trend - European powers would assert themselves in geostrategically important areas such as Jawa or Melaka, and leave the rest alone, preferring to trade with the locals as opposed to completely crushing them, but times were changing. In 1786, the British East India Company agent Francis Light secured Penang for the Company through shrewd dealings with the Sultan of Kedah in northern Malaya; this was followed by further efforts to claim Melaka and Singapore in later years but solely as trade factories and not as colonies per se. Although the effect of the Napoleonic Wars in Southeast Asia was barely felt, it however changed European policies towards the region. In the wake of French annexation of the Netherlands in 1795, the British consequentially garrisoned Dutch possessions in the East Indies to deny the French their resources. It also led towards the consolidation of power by the British and the Dutch in the area to afterward forestall any further influence by other Western powers in the region (particularly France), especially after the eventual takeovers of the Dutch VOC and the British East India Company by their respective home countries, but via different methods: the British installed "Residents" or advisors who were in effect viceroys who would advise local potentates on all issues other than religion; while the Dutch sought to subjugate states and annex them to the Netherlands. Despite repeated resistance by the locals, by the beginning of the 20th century, the Malay Archipelago was now largely under European colonial rule, and would remains so until the 1950s. Category:Factions